§ 10. Mr. Gerald Howarth (Aldershot)If he will make a statement on the future of the Aldershot garrison. [41303]
§ The Minister for the Armed Forces (Dr. John Reid)The strategic defence review has examined all aspects of defence. No final decisions have been taken, and although I cannot speculate about the outcome, I can assure the hon. Member that there will continue to be a significant Army presence in Aldershot.
§ Mr. HowarthI am grateful to the Minister for part of that reply. As he is aware, the delay in bringing forth the strategic defence review is causing great concern in Aldershot, not just among military personnel, who do not know whether they will have to move—I hope that the Parachute Regiment will stay—but in the town, where there are deprivation problems. I hope that the Minister will complete the review as quickly as possible so that all 589 the uncertainty can be limited. Can he assure me that, once the review is finished, Aldershot will still be able to claim to be the home of the British Army?
§ Dr. ReidAs regards the timing, it is better to get these matters right than to rush. At least some of the problems that we face are caused by the mess made in a number of areas by the Treasury-led reviews which were driven through under the previous Government.
I am pleased to assure the hon. Gentleman that there will continue to be a significant presence at Aldershot. We intend to ensure that all elements of the armed forces are usable, relevant and tied in to operations in the future, which is what we seek for the Parachute Regiment. The hon. Gentleman will know that HQ 4 Division and HQ 5 Airborne Brigade, as well as many other units, are based in Aldershot, and he can be assured that there will be a continuing Army presence for him and his constituents.
§ Mr. Robert Key (Salisbury)We understand the Minister's embarrassment at being unable to answer the question put by my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Mr. Howarth). The House is getting pretty fed up with non-answers to questions. The Minister has been unable to answer more than half the questions on the Order Paper this afternoon and has referred instead to the outcome of the defence review. It simply is not good enough. It is affecting this country's entire military credibility, the defence export industries, and the health, economy, housing and local plans of Aldershot and many other garrison towns.
We expect shortly to hear that the review is complete, but will the Minister please answer some of the questions? In particular, will he answer my hon. Friend's question on Aldershot, not by blaming the previous Government and saying that we must wait a few more months, but by telling us exactly where the defence review is now?
§ Dr. ReidI am not in the least embarrassed. If the hon. Gentleman wants to talk about what the House is fed up with, he should know that it is fed up with the continual vacuous and banal statements by the Opposition. After 10 months' debate, which has involved all three services and ranged from the screws that we put on small battleships to the deployment of aircraft carriers and vast jets, and force planning assumptions, all that we have had from the Opposition is three debates on the Territorial Army because they think that there is cheap popularity in them. We would welcome a contribution from the Opposition.
I have already made it clear that there will be a continuing substantial Army presence in Aldershot. As regards the paras, we will continue to do what we have been doing with all other elements of our forces—ensure that they are relevant and usable in the future, in the course of our foreign-policy-led review.